Senior reaches out through Twitter to share the graduation experience

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As the final weeks of the semester come closer one senior is taking to Twitter to share her final moments and helpful advice with her peers.

Rebecca Potzner, a 22-year-old senior, has begun the journey to the end of her college career.

“It’s kind of nerve wracking preparing for graduation,” Potzner said.

Potzner, a public relations major, is now sharing her journey through a series of tweets. Potzner was asked by Jim Nilson, director of Web Communications, to try something new to guide seniors through these final weeks.

Nilson, who taught Potzner in a social media course right around the time Twitter was popularized, is one of the individuals in charge of NKU’s website and social media sites. This year they decided to have a senior share their experiences via Twitter — a guest Tweeter.

“Rebecca was one of the few in class who saw the value of Twitter, not just following celebrities,” Nilson said.

Her activity on Twitter and true understanding of its functions are the exact reasons why Potzner was chosen. Potzner has been tweeting since high school and accumulated nearly 1,500 followers in that time.

Now over the next six weeks all of those followers will be seeing tweets with the hashtag #NKUnextstep, which was provided to her by Nilson. Potzner will highlight every final meeting, last course and graduation event she experiences.

“We’re not providing her with what to tweet, and she’s really using her experiences to make other students understand,” Nilson said.

From her own personal events like her final sorority formal, to the events every senior goes through like paying off loans, applying for jobs and the highly recommended upcoming Graduation Fair, Potzner will cover it all.

“A lot of people think they’re the only ones feeling stressed or nervous, but using Twitter to connect, they’ll see that they’re not alone,” Potzner said.

So far it’s working, she’s received numerous tweets from others feeling relieved to know that someone else is going through it all too.

“I want to show that seniors and students in general go through a lot and I just want to share my journey,” Potzner said.

Potzner is looking forward to #NKUnextstep and while some tweets will be catered to seniors, she hopes other students will follow her journey and learn some new things.

If you want to follow Potzner’s journey, just gain some helpful advice or feel comforted you’re not alone in your senior emotions, you can follow her on Twitter @BeckuhBeck or search the #NKUnextstep.